Warming heart and hearth

Kitchen and chicken are practically the same thing, at least to the dyslexic and the hungry. Which makes sense. Every kitchen should meet regularly with chicken. It's the dish that scents the air, warm, comforting and homey.

Especially chicken pot pie. The familiar mix of chicken and vegetables lolling in savory sauce, snuggled under a pastry blanket puts us in mind of warm bed, good novel and no need to budge. Hot pie improves cold weather.

Achieving thick but not suffocating, creamy but not heavy is the pie-maker's endless conundrum. I've tinkered with a base of cream, half-and-half and milk, finally settling on an all-broth approach.

Then there's the vegetable tussle. There are factions in my household that remain staunchly anti-pea. They square off against the pro-potato insurgents, caught in the crossfire of the celery-root snipers.

This pie takes winter seriously; it's full of full-flavored mushrooms, onion, garlic and carrot, bolstered by port. It gets crunch from bacon and snap from sugar snap peas. All under cover of puff pastry. Hot from the oven, it makes you never want to leave your kitchen. Or chicken.

2. Brown: Add mushrooms, onions and carrots to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until mushrooms are beautifully browned, 10 minutes. Add garlic and thyme, cook 1 minute. Deglaze with port. Scrape into a large bowl. Mix in chicken and snap peas.

4. Fill: Scrape chicken mixture into a deep 9-inch pie plate. Cast on bacon. Cover with pastry or pie crust; snip in a vent. Brush with beaten egg (or don't, for a more rustic look). Bake at 400 degrees until top is crisp and middle bubbles, 25 minutes. Enjoy warm.